Dealing With Temptation
by Shade
Summary: Everybody wants something. But the price may not always be what it seems.
1. Prologue: First Hand

**Dealing with Temptation  
by Shade**

Disclaimer: AMG isn't mine.

**-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-  
Prologue: First Hand  
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

"Walk with me, Mara."

Demoness First Class Mara swallowed hard where she sat in her standard office cubicle as she suddenly heard  
that deceptively gentle sounding voice next to her ear. Ever since being forced to report back to Hell for  
a pending reassignment for her continued failure to increase demonic marketshare among the humans she  
had been dreading this moment.

The Daimakaicho, Hild, was here. Not the childish Avatar that had taken such great delight  
in tormenting Mara in the mortal world, but the fully powered ruler of Hell in all of her glory.

"Yes, Hild-sama!"

Having no other choice, the shaking demoness followed after her boss as the latter began to stride away.  
She could feel the stares and whispers of her fellow demons at her back, no doubt speculating over her  
future...or lack of one. Mara had once been one of the rising stars in Hell, with the full favor of the  
CEO herself, but now everyone knew of her long string of humiliating failures against the Goddesses of  
the _'Other Side'_.

To say she was now well and truly fucked was an understatement.

Her apprehension growing with each step she took, Mara kept her eyes fixed at the level of Hild's black  
high heels, bracing for a verbal explosion that never came.

_'Any moment now. Here it comes. Any second now...'_

As this silent mental torture dragged on without any respite, Mara began to notice that the surroundings  
around the two of them were changing. They were no longer in the neat organized offices and walkways of  
Hell proper, but now treading over a rough stone path through an environment that would have been more  
recognizable to scholars of Old Testament. Sulfur and brimstone gave the atmosphere a foul stench as  
random jets of flame shot out of the cracked black rocks on either side of the ever winding path they  
were on.

The First Class Demoness's pupils shrank until they were barely visible against the whites of her eyes  
as she realized just which direction Hild was taking her.

The Hell of No Return. Where the worst of the worst were imprisoned for all eternity, until even their  
names were forgotten by all others and it was as if they had never existed at all. Surely she had never  
done anything to warrant being sent here?!

If the tall tanned Ruler of Hell noticed the pathetic animal whimpering coming from behind and slightly  
to her left, she gave no sign of it. Her steps were confident and sure as she made her way further into  
the bowels of what was becoming a twisting dark labyrinth of cold black rock that seemed to vibrate  
without pause from the sheer volume of magical energies radiating from within its depths.

Deeper and deeper they descended, until the only light was the weak flickering of orange flames in  
stone outcroppings in the walls on either side. The path underneath had forms yet again into a smooth  
glassy white surface that seemed to effortlessly swallow the sounds of their steps.

When at last they arrived at what seemed to be the final destination, Mara was almost grateful that at  
least the agony of waiting for the axe to fall was over. Before them stood a sheer metal vault door  
on the scale of a titan of old, seemingly designed to stand until the End of Creation itself.

The platinum haired Daimakaicho held up one hand as the red star symbol on her forehead began to glow  
brightly. Hidden gears long unused squawked in protest as they slowly began to turn, and a crack appeared  
in the center of the formerly featureless grey metal surface. The crack turned into a spiral line  
that circled outward at an incredible rate as individual metal plates fell away from the door and into  
place as the roof and side of an entrance leading inside.

"Do keep up, Little Mara. We don't want you left behind in a place like this, now do we?"

Seeing no other alternative, the quivering demoness stepped quickly after her mistress as the metal plates  
rose up behind them and began to seal the opening once more.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Inside the vault it smelled of great age, as if it had not been disturbed for a very long time even by the  
reckoning of immortals. Only a pale blue shimmer from the unmarred walls and ceiling provided any illumination  
in this enclosed space. A second much smaller armored door creaked as it opened inwards, leaving a gap just  
big enough for Hild to step through without difficulty, forcing Mara to wait until the CEO had passed through  
before she could enter herself. Again there was a muted rumble as the seals closed up behind them both.

To her surprise, the Demoness First Class found that it was much brighter in here, the innermost area of the vault.  
But when she saw exactly where the light was coming from, she realized why this was so. The most powerful and complex  
ward she had ever seen in her entire existance spun in a constant rotation before her. The brightly white glowing sigils  
that whirled through the air in a steady flow were actually painful to look at directly. Mara couldn't even begin to  
identify half of the symbols that pulsed and throbbed like a living creature. And the little she could make out made her  
hackles crawl. Whatever was being kept in here, the creators of this ward had been dead serious about making sure that  
it couldn't ever get out.

So caught up was she by the dazzling spectacle before her that Mara barely noticed at first the unremarkable figure  
sitting inside the center of the area covered by the ward's perimeter. But when the Daimakaicho addressed it, she  
quickly focused her full attention towards them as she tried hard to pretend she was just part of the landscape.

"It's been such a long time. I see that you're still doing well in here."

To her great astonishment, Mara saw that the person sitting in a lotus position with their eyes closed looked like  
a rather ordinary plain faced office demon. Save for his garb which looked centuries out of fashion and lack of  
the exotic demonic beauty that both Mara and Hild possessed, he could have been any of a billion nameless minions  
on the streets of Hell. In fact, with his long dark hair trimmed back and the single sigil on his head  
concealed he could probably have passed as a mortal easily enough.

_'Why is someone like that in there,'_ she wondered in confusion.

_**"Hild."**_

It was barely a whisper, but the word rang throughout the chamber like an alarm claxon.

Mara gulped. She was beginning to get an inkling that appearances could be deceptive here.

"Now, now. Can't an old friend say hello?"

**_"Cut the oxshit. What do you want?"_**

Hild's enchantingly perfect features remained unperturbed by the speaker's rudeness while Mara could  
only gape at the prisoner, for she finally understood that was what this person was. Why had she never  
heard of him? Even with this kind of security the word should have leaked out eventually, for if there was  
one thing that Heaven and Hell had in common it was that the speed of gossip was a constant that outpaced  
all others, even light itself.

"To the point then. I have a problem and I believe that you can help me solve it."

The Daimakaicho's voice dropped its facade of pleasantness and cut straight into a controlled tone suitable for serious business.

The prisoner let out a dry chuckle of open amusement.

_**"Help you? And what makes you think I have any interest in what you want?"**_

"Because I can offer something that you want very badly."

_**"My cock shoved up your ass? Tempting, but after so long who knows who's already been in there."**_

"How dare you speak to Hild-sama in that fashion!!"

Complete outrage at the stranger's insult to her mistress finally broke Mara out of her paralysis.

**_"What's this? Taking one of your trained little pet bitches out for a walk to do her business?"_**

Her face red with rage, the demoness tensed as she prepared to spring at the bastard.

"Mara." The warning in Hild's voice was absolute and her subordinate subsided instantly.

**_"Well trained isn't she. Does she do any fancy tricks for a bone?"_**

The undercurrent in the man's voice left no confusion as to exactly what kind of 'bone' he meant.

With an effort, Mara swallowed her overwhelming fury as she was aware that Hild's stern eye was still fixed on her.

"Your tongue has lost none of its edge despite the lack of practice, I see."

The tanned ruler of Hell contemplated the figure sitting before her with calculated interest.

"I suppose it is just as well we didn't remove it from you back then since I have a use for it now."

**_"And I hate having to repeat myself. Why should I care about what you want?"_**

"Because in exchange for carrying out this trifling little favor for me, I will release you from this prison..."

This time the prisoner laughed out long and loud.

**_"Hahahaha!! If you're going to fabricate, at least put some effort into thinking it through first!"_**

"I'm quite serious."

The man snorted rudely in reply.

**_"It took the combined efforts of Gods and Demons to seal me into this prison in the first place. You couldn't free from here even if you wanted to."_**

"Oh, couldn't I? Not even with a God's Crest?"

From the sudden stillness in the air Hild knew that she'd finally gotten his full attention.

**_"You can't steal one of those. And no God would ever give theirs to a Demon."_**

Despite the cold matter of factness in his tone there was for the first time a trace of uncertainty in the speaker's voice.

"Oh, one might. Say for instance if they fancied themselves wooing a half-demon without paying too much  
attention to exactly who they were attempting to befuddle."

**_"..."_**

"And all that I want in return is for you to complete a single task for me. One that you should not  
find so distasteful once you hear it."

Despite the bait she so temptingly waved in front of him, he did not bite. She had expected as much,  
but it would have been worthwhile to see a sign of eagerness on his face. It was those little things  
that kept her job so interesting no matter how long she was at it.

"There is a goddess currently in a relationship with a mortal of some interest to me. I wish for him to be  
brought into our sphere of influence. I believe that I can leave the method up to your discretion."

**_"That's it? You're bothering me for a trifle like that?"_**

The disbelief in his voice perfectly reflected the look on Mara's own face.  
She couldn't possibly be serious about this...could she?

"Well if you don't want to seperate Belldandy from the one she loves above all others-"

Eyes as brown as the wet earth after a summer storm had passed, snapped open with a suddenness that made Mara gasp without thinking.

**_"BELLDANDY."_**

A listener unable to see the speaker's face would have easily mistaken the emotional intensity in his voice for affection.

And Hild knew at that moment that she had him.

"Do we have a deal?"

**-End Prologue**


	2. Chapter 1: Opening the Blinds

**Dealing with Temptation  
by Shade**

Disclaimer: AMG isn't mine.

** -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-  
Chapter 1: Opening the Blinds  
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**

_ 'Why do I keep ending up in those kinds of situations,'_ Keiichi Morisato wondered to himself  
as he tiredly trudged towards home from a _'favor'_ that Aoyama and Tamiya had _'asked'_ him to do  
without really giving him any choice in the matter at all. His boss Chihiro had naturally been  
unsympathetic to his situation, pointing out that it was his fault for having such a wishy-washy  
personality that he couldn't stop his former sempai from taking advantage of him even after they'd  
all graduated from college.

Of course the _'favor'_ had turned out to be much more difficult then initially described by the two men  
and as a result all he had wanted was to go home and enjoy a quiet evening with Belldandy. But today just  
didn't seem to be his day as his motorcycle's engine had conked out barely two miles from the temple  
where he and the goddesses resided. He'd phoned to let them know he was going to be late, but politely  
declined their assorted offers to provide assistance in alternative transportion. He hadn't wanted  
to inconvenience Belldandy over what seemed like such a trifling little matter and in the case of  
the other two, hard learned experience had taught him that it might be slower but definitely safer  
to use the two feet he'd been born with instead.

And so here he was, slowly pushing along his BMW RS and wondering what else was going to go wrong today.

"Keiichi Morisato?"

The young man blinked and turned his head.

"Did someone call my name?"

There was a figure standing there on the sidewalk as the last fading light of the day began  
dwindling into the beginning of the evening. He looked normal enough, so ordinary in fact  
that Keiichi knew that if he were ever asked to describe him, he wouldn't be able to beyond  
the facts that his hair was straight and black and his eyes an earthy brown. For some reason  
his mind's eye just couldn't focus on any particular trait that distinguished itself into any  
sort of individuality whatsoever. It was rather eerie now that he thought about it.

"Good. I had to be sure."

A small red flare gleamed to life on the center of the stranger's forehead for a long moment before  
fading away as if it had never been there. More then long enough for Morisato to see it, recognize  
the mark for what it was and realize just how bad a day this was really turning out to be.

"You and I have some matters of no small importance to discuss between us, Mr. Morisato. Or would you prefer Keiichi?"

Despite the pleasantness of the stranger's tone, Keiichi almost broke and fled then and there.  
He knew that no good could come of this because every time a demon crossed his path it always  
led to trouble.

"Who are you," the young man asked the demon in deceptively calm voice,  
desperately trying to buy himself some time to think of a way out of this mess.

"An excellent question. Right to the point."

To Keiichi's surprise, the stranger laughed without malice as though the demon was truly impressed with his nerve.

"Believe me, if only I knew that, all of this wouldn't be necessary."

He gestured as if to encompass both himself, Keiichi and their surroundings. Keiichi flinched at first,  
expecting some kind of magic or effect to occur, but quickly realized that it had been done only for emphasis.

"I suppose you will still need some means to address me though. You may call me Temp."

"Temp?"

"I can think of nothing more suitable to represent all that I am at the moment, Mr. Morisato."

There was a flicker of hard bitterness in his eyes for a moment, but when Keiichi looked closer  
it vanished before the young man was sure he had seen anything at all. There was something odd about  
the other's eyes in general though now that he had a chance to study him closer. He couldn't quite  
put his finger on it but something about the gaze was off somehow. As if he wasn't really looking at Keiichi at all.

"But come now, this is no place for a proper parley. And this I can swear to you, Keiichi Morisato,  
this conversation will not be one you wish to forgo..."

Actually, Morisato intended to do just that, thank you very much-

_** "...unless you wish to cede your claim to Belldandy and allow me to strike at her directly."**_

The young man's back stiffened at those last words and the refusal on his lips died as every  
protective fiber in his body rushed to the fore. For a moment, demon or not, outclassed or not  
Keiichi would have thrown himself at the owner of that knowing grin.

"I trust I have your full attention now."

Tight lipped, Morisato nodded stiffly in response.

"Well then, let us go to a place better suited for these matters at hand."

Temp led and Keiichi followed. What other choice did he really have now?  
But one thing was certain, the only way this demon was getting to Belldandy was  
over his dead body. Then the mortal wilted a little as he realized that it might  
just come to that.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The cafe was one of those that Keiichi had passed many times before but had never really noticed until now.  
The waitress that greeted them was young and cheerful, her outfit colorful in a way that suggested spring.  
She gestured them towards the back without being asked. Keiichi barely noticed her as he passed,  
all of the young man's attention was on the figure walking in front of him.

A Demon. Not like Mara or Hild, this one was different. He had a presence about him that seemed to bend  
the light around his figure in such a way that it took all of Keiichi's concentration to keep his eyes  
from sliding off of that deceptively ordinary appearance. Part of his brain kept trying to tell that there  
was nothing to pay attention to there, that his eyes shouldn't see what they were seeing. It was starting  
to give him a headache.

An exclamation from the booth ahead broke through Morisato's focus.

"Why is he here?!"

An all too familiar face was pointing a blood red nail at him.

"Mara!"

His own outstretched finger jabbed back at the Demoness First Class like a spear trying to hold off a tiger.

Temp ignored both of them in favor of slipping onto the dark cushioned bench by the wall with a small sigh.

"Humans have learned a few things since I was gone."

He turned back towards the mortal.

"Sit down. We have much to discuss."

Seeing no other options available, Keiichi gingerly took a seat on the other side of the table.

"Tea? Or do you prefer coffee?"

"No thank you."

Mara rose out of her seat.

"What do you think you're doing?! This wasn't part of the plan at all!!"

**_ "Enough."_**

Temp spoke softly, but that single word seemed echo like a thunderclap.

The pale faced demoness fell back into her seat and began to do a very good impression of a statue.

"I do apologize for her lack of manners. So many of the traditional formalities  
seem to have been forgotten until now."

The young man looked at him but remained silent.

_ 'Clever boy.'_

The waitress came with a pair of steaming hot mugs on a platter which she placed on the table  
before the two men before running off to serve another customer's table.

Temp felt for his mug and cradled the cup in his hands, savoring the heat emanating from it.

He took a brief sip. The green tea was hot and strong, its clean flavor uncluttered by any milk or sugar.

Finally Morisato blurted out, "You're blind, aren't you?"

Temp smiled. He almost wished that he could see the look on the mortal's face at that moment.

"Yes...and no."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I may be unable to see the present, but the Past and Future are another matter entirely."

Again there was a brief silence.

"So Mr. Morisato, what do you want?"

Keiichi stared at the man calmly sipping his tea.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Temp seemed to consider this.

"Perhaps."

The young man rallied his scattered thoughts back into a single focus.

"Leave Belldandy alone."

"Ah, is that what you wish for?"

Keiichi opened his mouth and then shut it quickly again.

He pointed a finger at the softly smiling demon in human guise.

"You are not going to catch me with a word game like that!"

Temp put his cup down and spread his hands out theatrically.

"_Touche._ So you dream of happily ever after with her then?"

Morisato's charged silence spoke volumes in response.

"Of course, you wouldn't be the first. There are many who have wanted her over time."

There was trace of cold mockery in that voice. It burrowed under Keiichi's skin and  
made his blood boil with a sudden fury that shocked the young man. For the first time  
in his life, he understood why they called this emotion a murderous rage.

"I won't let you hurt her."

Temp laughed out loud. It was the laugh of a man who had just heard the greatest joke in the universe  
and he was the only one who got the punchline. Even Mara was staring at him in complete bewilderment.

"My dear boy, I don't have to do a thing. Because the one she has to fear the most..."

Temp leaned forward and gave a smile that was all teeth.

"...is you."

Keiichi felt his chair pressing hard against his back as he tried to move away  
from that gaze which seemed to pierce through him as though he wasn't even there.

"You're lying! I would never-"

The smile grew even colder if that was still possible.

A spark of something that might have been anger or triumph flashed inside  
of those deceptively plain eyes that looked outside of the here and now.

"A challenge against my word, is it? Very well then, let me **_*show*_** you."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_ Keiichi sat peacefully on the porch of the shrine, sipping a hot drink  
and watching the sun paint the sky in beautiful red and orange as it set._

And there was Belldandy by his side. Sweet, patient and understanding.

He was content.

Time rippled forward and the world outside changed, but Belldandy was his constant, always  
there cooking and cleaning and simply being there which was all that he asked for from her.

He was content.

The others were mere flickers in the eternal now of being with Bell, gradually becoming less  
and less noticeable until it was only him and Belldandy and her sisters together. And then even  
those two faded and vanished. But it was okay, because the two of them were still together.

He was content.

And then he was old, white and wrinkled. His bones ached and his flesh was failing him.

Where had the time gone? He looked at his wrinkled hands with their liver spots and dark  
ruined skin from a lifetime of working with grease and oil.

And there was Belldandy, looking as young and beautiful as the day they had met. Pure and untouched,  
because it had never seemed the right time to try and take things further. It had always been  
pushed off until another day, but now there were no more days left for him. How could he touch  
her looking like this? There had been no other women in his life, because Belldandy had been the only  
one he'd ever needed, the center of his universe. But somehow, with her there, he had no regrets  
about being chaste all his life. Because they had spent that time together.

And so he died peacefully in his sleep.

His ashes were buried in a lonely plot, with only the goddesses to mourn him. Odd that.  
Where had all the others gone? It was only Belldandy, her sisters, Peorth and....Lind?  
Why was she crying at his grave?

Then they went back to Heaven.

But they did not forget.

And there was a new distance between them, a small wedge in the closeness  
that they'd once shared which seemed to expand slowly but steadily.

Until one day, the three sisters were only one.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Keiichi jerked back to awareness with a shout.

** "NO!!"**

A worried female face looked down at him.

"Sir, is something the matter?"

The young man looked at her in confusion and then looked around quickly.

He was alone in the cafe.

"N-nothing, just dozed off for a second."

The waitress nodded in sympthetic understanding and left to help another table.

This gave Morisato a chance to check his surroundings  
more closely and see what he'd missed the first time.

A receipt for two green teas, paid in full.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The walk back to the temple left him with far too much time to think.

It had to be some kind of trick. But that vision had felt so real.  
Demons could lie, but that didn't mean they couldn't tell the truth  
if they wanted to. But himself, a danger to Belldandy? Preposterous!

What was this Temp character really after? The only thing that Morisato knew beyond  
the shadow of a doubt was genuine was the raw hate he'd heard in the Demon's voice  
when he'd spoken Belldandy's name. Just remembering it gave him goose bumps.

Not even Mara, the Goddess's sworn opponent, had ever held that kind of emotion against her.  
He'd been so accustomed over the years to everyone always liking her that the idea of someone  
hating her with that level of passion was almost unthinkable.

Whatever this Temp was, he didn't seem to have actually done anything yet. But that didn't  
mean anything. He'd have tell the Goddesses of course, there was nothing he could do against  
a Demon. He knew this, but why did it make him feel so useless this time when he'd never  
really had an issue with being so outclassed before?

His head was starting to ache. So much for a nice quiet weekend.

Morisato kept on walking, lost in thought.

_ What if Temp wasn't lying?_

"Welcome home, Keiichi...what's wrong?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Two figures walked along the brightly lit streets as the evening finally set in.

"What the hell was that all about? Just curse him and be done with it!"

"Mara, you simply have no grasp of the formalities. It is a matter of style."

Pedestrians visibly noticed the excited white-blonde girl, obviously a punk rocker of some kind.

But had any of them been asked later to describe her companion they would have been  
hard pressed to be more specific then "just some guy" if they'd been able to remember  
his presence at all.

"Style my ass! You didn't do a thing!"

"That is merely a matter of perspective. I don't have to do anything. He will."

Mara wasn't sure what she hated more, Temp's undisturbable self-assurance  
or the way he ever so subtly turned the most polite tone and words into the  
kind of finely honed insult that had started more then one war in history.

"And how can you be so sure of that?"

"Because he's a mortal and he's in love. _And that, Mara dear, makes all the difference in the world._"

** -End Chapter 1**


End file.
